AS the world marks World Hunger Day on Wednesday, under the theme “Sowing Resilience”, Nigeria stands at a critical juncture.
This year’s theme underscores the pressing need to address the interconnected crises of hunger and climate change by investing in farmers and fostering resilient food systems. In Nigeria, the message is chillingly urgent.
The stark truth: Hunger is ravaging the land. Millions of Nigerians are hungry. By 2050, without radical, forward-thinking policies, many more will be.
According to the most recent Cadre Harmonisé food security report, released in March, nearly 31 million Nigerians across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory are expected to face acute food and nutrition insecurity during the June-August lean season.
This represents one of the most alarming projections in the country’s recent history. In these homes, hunger is not an abstract; it is a lived reality. Children go to bed on an empty stomach. Mothers dilute pap to stretch a meal. Farmers stare at cracked soil and lost harvests.
The causes of Nigeria’s food crisis are multiple and deeply interwoven. At the top of these is the climate crisis.
Nigeria is facing severe desertification in the North, coastal erosion and flooding in the South, and irregular rainfall patterns that disrupt planting seasons nationwide.
Desertification alone claims up to 350,000 hectares of arable land each year in the northern region, a figure that should set off alarm bells in Abuja. Multilateral agencies estimate that desertification is moving southward by 2km annually. As farmland turns to dust, farmers migrate, communities collapse, and hunger intensifies.
Compounding this challenge is insecurity. Across Nigeria, banditry, terrorism, and farmer-herder conflicts have displaced millions, destroyed farmland, and deterred agricultural investment.
In parts of Borno, Benue, Zamfara, and Niger States, entire farming communities have abandoned cultivation due to violence.
Meanwhile, economic reforms under the Bola Tinubu administration have added further strain to vulnerable households.
The removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira have fuelled runaway inflation, pushing basic food items out of reach for many Nigerians. A 50kg bag of rice soared to N80,000 before dropping to N55,000 in many areas. Protein, once a staple, is now a luxury; a crate of eggs is nearing N7,000, compared to under N1,000 in 2022.
Worse, agricultural support has remained tokenistic. Over 80 per cent of Nigerian farmers are smallholders. They lack access to credit, improved seedlings, extension services, irrigation, or storage facilities.
Nigeria’s annual budget continues to allocate less than 5.0 per cent to agriculture, a far cry from the 10 per cent recommended under the Maputo Declaration.
Instead of increasing agricultural productivity, our policymakers choose palliatives and interventions that rarely trickle down to the farm gate.
And all this in a country expected to surpass 400 million people by 2050. The future of food security in Nigeria is not just about ending hunger today; it is about preventing a catastrophe tomorrow.
Without comprehensive investments in resilient food systems, including climate-smart agriculture, rural infrastructure, and transparent governance, Nigeria will continue to be a country of empty plates and hollow policies.
Tinubu must take urgent action. Nigerians are hungry, and World Hunger Day 2025 cannot again be about empty rhetoric and photo ops.
The government needs concrete action. It must prioritise smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, and improve access to credit, inputs, and land.
There is a need to implement climate-resilient strategies: support irrigation, agroforestry, and drought-resistant crops. The government must build early warning systems and disaster response mechanisms.
Post-harvest losses must be contained with modern preservation and processing techniques, cold storage facilities, and improved value chain resources.
Most importantly, no food security can exist without human security. The government should empower local communities and security agencies to protect farming zones.
